BB’s math homework–how to get a 36″ bully stick through the crate door
The Four Pack is Back…by Auntie Lisa
It’s finally over–Thursday, Nov 6, 2008, my brother left! It was a total of 34 weeks as of Thursday, eight and a half months, and now we have our home to ourselves. BB doesn’t have to deal with a small child in his home every few days, so we’re expecting him to continue calming down.
The poor pup has had diarrhea for a couple days, likely from a toy that was full of treats to find inside. Bless his heart, Sunday morning he made a huge mess of himself and his bed. I got him cleaned up and the bed too, mopping the floors and washing carpet runners. This morning (Monday) his stools were still a bit too loose, but he didn’t have any accidents in the house since Sunday morning.
Little Beebs has been much calmer overall since my brother left, maybe because we are calmer. Partly, at least. He and Mom are settling into a routine, with more playtime in it! You can see above, BB having a grand time with his soft ball in the kitchen. Our four pack doesn’t meet up until breakfast, lunch, and evenings in front of the tube, so there is plenty of BB play going on!
Mornings for BB are spent following Mom around as she does laundry, makes her bed, dusts, or anything else that she needs to do. She’s gone for a couple hours on MWF, then it’s bouncing around in the laundry piles, or chasing a toy she tossed. Afternoons are a nap with Mom, then getting some more play in before Kenai and I appear to make supper.
Meals are still trouble time for Beebs, since he makes a pest of himself around the table. He hasn’t gotten the idea of leaving people alone when they eat. He’s getting better about it, but oh how hard it is for a boy! He wants to play and have attention all the time, not to mention stuff smells good.
We’re all still transitioning back to the four pack days, and working out what schedule works best for us. But it’s indescribably wonderful to totally relax again–no one comes and goes but us, so we dont’ have to listen and anticipate BB’s reactions. We don’t have to hurry through breakfast to get BB out of the house when he’s not handling the kiddie invasion well. I am free to leave him alone in his pen when Kenai and I have something to do.
It’s just relaxed around here again!! Yay!
The cold snap has kept BB from going in the car much, but I’m hoping to stash him in the hatch Thursday for a stop at Melba’s house. Some puppy games with Chloe the lab would peg his happy meter! It’s sad that he can’t play with his brother, the rough and tumble thug of the house. Kenai just gets too rough, and BB gets nasty when he’s losing. Boys…
That will be worked on over the coming winter.
I’m looking forward to the days when the boys can be loose and unsupervised, just hanging out and walking around together, playing a game of tug or keep away without the fussing. We’ll get there.
BB the Comic Strip…by Auntie Lisa
BB’s crookedy turn about, playing with Chloe, 43 wks
BB’s such a comic strip! All his lumpy bumps spend their time looking for fun. When he can’t find any, he makes some. This new toy, a big fat ball with 8 little balls inside is the best thing since monkey bread: he gives the big ball a bigger shake, and the little ones go flying out. Then it’s puppy pounce time all over the living room. Life is good with interesting toys…
Beebs made it relatively calm through weekend number 33 with a 2 year old in the house. Em didn’t stay overnight. Mom’s still saying this was the last weekend, but she’s said that for 3 weeks now. I hope but I don’t believe. He had some barking at her, though not too much. Jumpy as a cat, but relatively calm compared to some weekends we’ve had.
Our little bent bottom boy has had lots of fun with Mom, who’s decided playing with him is equal to or better than watching TV. Now she does both. Young master BB has copied his brother’s two at once toy times, carrying around a toy while he swats about a ball. Unlike Kenai, he is determined to retrieve lost balls at any cost! That poor couch, being burrowed under.
Sunday, though, the ball chase led him across a shiney floor too fast–whammo. Now he knows what “don’t run” means, and it’s a good command to follow. Poor kiddo, helped up on the couch, having his liniment rub and a bone to chew. Even rough and tumble big brother treated him gingerly, hanging around the back of the couch to poke his head around it and give little bro a sniff and a lick.
Since the pool was closed, he’s using his repaired leg less, and it’s tightenting back up. We’re going to have to be religious about his dry PT over the winter, rubbing, stretching, and going back to the “touch footie” game. He’s likely always going to be bent up, but maybe over time, huh?
Watching BB is never dull. He really is a comic strip, going from one funny to the next. I’ve always wanted to be able to draw, but the ability just wasn’t there. Every once in a while, though, I’ll get a zing of regret about it. BB would be the ideal candidate for a spot in the Sunday paper.
His latest game is dunking for ice cubes, and he makes the most glorious mess doing it. Like everything else he does, he dunks with enthusiasm! When ring around the rosie chasing the ice meets his determination, he even blows bubbles with his nose–”Me get it”! He won’t come up for air unless he has to.
BB Smiles are Good…by Auntie Lisa
Are we really going to Miss Melba’s? BB 43 wks
Oh did BB have himself a day, Monday! We all four went to Melba’s house. Beebs played with Chloe the lab for a solid hour before he got tired. The diet change is doing him worlds of good, and the extra playtime he has the calories for does his puppy heart good too. He sparkled all over from the fun!
After Kenai’s turn with Chloe, the boys were so pleasantly tired that the Brother’s Grin had a laying down nip and swat game without a single snap or nasty. They actually walked around together later, no shoving, no competing. They also slept pretty much the rest of the day, and went to bed without resistance!
BB was sore from the exertion in the cold air, feeble leg tucked up under him the rest of the day. He got a pain pill to take the edge off so he was more comfie to rest. Sore or not, he had the sparkle in his eyes too. Today I’ll give him a nice massage with some Traumeel liniment, and of course, the soft relaxing voice he likes so much.
The diet, half Eagle Pack Lamb and half low fat EVO is putting some weight on his bones again. He’s still bony, but improving. His coat is shedding less, shining more too. I expected the frightening amount of protein in the EVO (it’s grain free) to give him diarrhea, but it hasn’t. He gets watched carefully for any hint of bone growth changes, though, since the minerals are high too. Just two weeks ago he wouldn’t have lasted 15 minutes with Chloe.
So bent bottoms has his bounce back! God help us. Mom’s been getting closer and closer to every day outside time, and her attitude has been staying calmer with him, too. She’s working hard at it, more power to her. With the fall yard work itch itching us, the banana butt should have longer outside times soon. And I’d say we won’t have any more weekends with my niece, except I don’t want to jinx us. All of that will make BB’s life more enjoyable.
He is 43 weeks old today, the little lumps. He’s tall, but small too, all at the same time. His personality is as giant as ever! It’s amazing how his energy comes up to greet you from across the room, but when he goes to sleep, he’s like a deflated balloon. That’s when you can see the toll his bone troubles have had on him, all curled up and scrawny. Then he wakes up and the shine fills the room again. He’s quite a character, that boy.
He has a new toy. It’s a toy with toys inside, a buy one get a bunch! It’s a big soft ball with little tennis ball sized soft squeaky balls that fit inside, gobs of puppy fun to fling out with a few hard shakes. Then he can pounce on the little ones all over the place. Impeding the refill is fun too, his pokey nose inconveniently in the way! Patience is not his virtue…
It’s so nice to have happy times for BB to talk about again. He makes me smile. He makes everyone smile. He deserves to smile too. Have a laugh and a hug, little love, from your Auntie Lisa!
BB the Donkey Boy…by Auntie Lisa
can't I go play?
BB managed to endure weekend number 31 with a small people in the house. He barked of course, and was wound up taught as piano wire the whole time. Nerves, nerves, all a jingle jangle poor guy. I kept Kenai away for the most part, since the two males often stir each other up. Beebs was uptight enough!
Friday though he had his electric puppy self a great good time at the puppy store, roaming around and playing off leash. Getting him in the car was a dingus donkey affair again! He wouldn’t do it, he wouldn’t do it! Mom put him back in the expen to stay home—not a chance was I going to let him get away with refusing, or miss his puppy store times.
The boy doesn’t get to decide yes or no, so Kenai and I got up from our nap. As soon as Beeber snot saw big brother in the car, he nearly leaped into the hatch by himself! He was confused though, when Kenai and I got out. We’d been running errands all week, so I needed the rest (before that kid turned up at the door yet again, and turned our house into a zoo every few hours).
BB had the best time, and was so proud of himself bringing home 2 new toys and the best tasting favorite of all time kibble a boy ever smelled. (Kenai has pancreatic insufficiency, and Beebs is questionable). They can hold weight, grow evenly, and maintain a good coat on Eagle Lamb, but nearly nothing else. Come to find out both have some grain intolerance. That’s why all the food switches—nearly everything has grains of some sort in it. So for extra calories, we added the calorically dense grain free EVO low fat.
Right now BB looks like a bag of bones, losing muscle mass right along with his brother. So to counter the problem of shrinking Dane puppies, we’ve added EVO. It has a dangerously high protein and mineral content for Great Danes, so they’ll get half and half at best. But it should put weight on them, and get them growing again. Normally I wouldn’t even consider feeding a Dane pup EVO, but these two have some veterinary issues. Beebs is showing more stamina in his running about already. We’ll see long term.
I’m hoping this was the last weekend with my brother in the house, and his daughter here too. No more believing Mom, no more saying “It’s almost over”. It isn’t over until it actually is over. Not holding my breath, nor getting happy anymore as a date comes close because I’ve seen too many go by. His first evacuation date was Sept 30th. “Helping” my brother is like getting gum in your hair; the only way to get rid of the mess is to cut your hair off.
BB the dingus donkey had another I won’t do it escapade getting in the car Saturday, so we laid the seats down and let him get in through the hatch how he prefers. We need some more bedding to fill the entire back end of the car, now…the things we do for him. But he had a car ride!
There is a puppy trip planned for Sunday, looking for a slip collar like the show dogs wear—problem is even a lot of them slip down the neck unless you are constantly holding the leash straight up. That’s not exactly a relaxing way to walk with a Dane! But neither is being pulled around, so something has to go up behind his ears and stay there. Something totally easy for Mom to put on the wiggling wump, too, or it will hang on the hook and collect dust.
There’s a franticness about BB most of the time. He’s got that frenzied sort of approach to everything: playtime is almost lunatic excited, not play time is usually unruly because he wants to engage you in playtime, he can’t stay on his bed when anyone’s around because he desperately wants attention.
He’s the most insecure pup I’ve been around, almost feverishly driven to have interaction unless he’s really tired. I hope that rowdiness goes away when he starts being satisfied with his food, not so hungry and scrawny all the time. Not to mention when he finally has regular exercise and playtime. And no little kid to scare the fool out of him every few days.
can't I go play?
Good Coming Out of Trouble…by Auntie Lisa
BB shedding happy germs all over the place! 42 wks old
I’ve been waiting to post until have some BB fun to write about, and I finally do. It came on the heels of trouble, but BB got to go run around outside for the first time in days. He got put outside by Mom for peeing on the floor (7 hours without being taken out? With that bladder?), and when I’d gotten it all cleaned up I went out to the field to fetch him. In a round about sort of scenic route.
You can see from the pics that he was a happy hoot while we walked around together. He gallopolled and gallivanted all over the acre and a half, entertaining himself. The ball I took out with me wasn’t as much fun as snooting through the falling leaves and discovering the hiding places of sticks! But he made do with it…
our very own living cartoon… BB the boy playing with his ball, 42 wks. BTW this is the “dodo bird ears” talked about in a recent post. He’s so much fun!
He bounced from place to place, first on the sunny south side of the field where the turkeys usually are, leaving their scent behind. Then it was to the four black walnut stumps, where decay has sunken the ground as the roots rot. The ruts and holes have to be given their proper checking out. Finally, up on the north end, where the grass is scraggly and uncut, for a jungle dance. It was so good to see a smile on him again.
finally! Happy tired!
Oh the fun we’re not going have… both boys are starting into adolescence a little early, so the marking and generalized knot head stuff is starting too. Marking is swiftly and sternly corrected, and humping is swiftly and intensely corrected. I won’t allow either macho men behaviors, and never had. It’s downright rude to let your dog mark other people’s property, so there’s no way my boys are going to! I don’t let the habit form.
Beebs’ best people friend, Melba, came for dinner Wednesday night, which is good! He loves her as much as she loves him, and the affair has been from the day we came home with the boys. They have the best time together, and an even better one when Mom actually takes him to Melba’s where Chloe the lab is available for some puppy play! It’s been several weeks, but he loves it so.
The initial meeting up again was goober puppy goes bonkers, complete with big brother wanting in on the act! We eventually got them settled and had a nice meal. We ate strip steaks, Jasmine rice, and the last of the garden tomatoes. Yummy! I even made some gravy.
BB of course, didn’t get any. With those French genes in him, it’s not a good idea to see if he has gourmet genes too. He would look awfully funny in a beret, wouldn’t he? He’s got the goofiness to pull it off. Kenai’s more of a bomber jacket boy, so funny doesn’t really fit his personality.
I think BB needs a Halloween costume, but we’re not going trick or treating until he gets over his kid issues. What you think I should dress him up as? There could be lots of fun in deciding that! Next year maybe. Let him earn us some chocolate? Aren’t I just a slave-driver…
The Language of Ears…by Auntie Lisa
Told ya BB is our skinny Minnie!
I knew I had to get a new post up, but there wasn’t anything much fun or pleasant for BB in this week’s activities to talk about. He’s been riding in the car, but had to stay there while Mom, Kenai, and I went inside the restaurant or shopping in the mall. But he was out in the sunshine and fresh air, having his puppy self a change of scenery.
My joy at last weekend being the last weekend with my 2 year old neice in the house was premature: guess who’s downstairs making noise and demanding stuff. My hopefulness about Mom changing her attitude was also premature. Guess who’s crabbing at the boy for his noise about the noise maker.
Oh, I think Mom’s trying, but the two of them are strung out on nerves. Another promise that this is the last weekend my brother and his daughter will be here has found itself in the “believe it when I see it” category. Of course, BB can’t understand about the future, so he’s stuck with the absurdity happening now.
How do dogs keep their loving and hopeful nature without having something in the future to look forward to?
♣
One thing about not cropping BB’s ears is how very expressive he is with them. Between his eyes and his ears, you can tell exactly what he’s feeling. I’d say thinking too, but he’s so crazy hyper can’t take it that he isn’t thinking. He’s running on adrenaline and instinct right now. Superficial obedience commands and words he knows aren’t sinking in. If I want to talk to Beebs I have to do it with body language and energy, ie doggie talk.
He is remarkably expressive with those ears though. The direction of the crinkles he has in them, if they’re standing up or drooping, even how fast or slow they move has a story to tell. In the pic above, he hears my niece in the kitchen, hence, the crinkles and laying against his head. He doesn’t want any part of going inside!
When I’m clipping his toenails (yuk, me no like!), he has this way of folding them straight down the middle with the front and back edges sticking up like a stiff napkin that won’t stay flat. Anything really unpleasant will cause the wrinkly ears to fold back on his neck. If it’s play time, the back of the ear (called a bell) is up high on his head and the ear faces forward.
Nervousness shows in how fast his ears are twitching to hear sounds while situated lower on his head. Usually the boy head is on a swivel too, but sometimes he just sits there moving his ears around. Run time is when the Dodo bird ears happen, flapping around like he’s trying to take off!
Then there is the I’m-in-trouble ear thing, where they droop and hang low like wilted spinach. When he’s playing keep away, the feet are scurrying, the lips are flapping, and his ears are facing backwards like some charging elephant–that’s really funny to watch. That’s called “elephant puppy” around here.
Mom and I both like the look of cropped ears on Danes, some Danes anyway. Kenai would not look like the noble spirited, striking young man he is with natural ears. But BB would look like the soft and silly boy he is with cropped ears. His natural ears suit him perfectly, as smushy and expressive as any other part of him.
Dandelions by Auntie Lisa
BB had a ball Sunday, once we got him in the car. He acted like he was going to his own execution! Silly boy. The dig in and sit like a mule thing he does finally got him picked up and put in the car. When he realized we were out for fun, he got in and out all by himself just fine. Puppy store!! Let me out! Where’s the bones?
Mom has gradually begun the battle for dominance with him, and I’m hoping it continues. Perhaps after my brother is gone, she’ll find it easier, and find more ways to passively assert her leadership. He’s stubborn as the mule he sits down like, so it will take a concerted and consistent effort. She can do it, if she wants to.
Beebs had to wait in the car until we were done with breakfast at the café, but he got to go to the puppy store! Yay! He bumped, bounced, wiggled, and did his best to be silly. He picked out a new toy, the strangest looking flamingo you ever saw: long legs for tugging, bugged out eyes, scrawny neck to wring… perfect! Even comes with a squeaker. That and a turn rooting through the chews made a satisfying outing.
Since he was hurting later that afternoon, Mom gave him one of the muscle relaxants the vet recommended, and it totally blasted him for a solid eight hours. He was wobbly as his new flamingo baby trying to eat supper! Ooops. Half or quarter dose next time…His wiggles slowed down, and his bump was a lean to stay on his feet, poor kiddo. Being a natural born goof, he was still his funny self, complaining, and trying to play even while the room wouldn’t hold still.
Monday he woke up shedding wonky let-me-run energy all over the place, then he wouldn’t get in the car. He wouldn’t even get close to it. Uhg. Tuesday his lack of exercise made him wonkier, and Mom was in a foul mood paying bills. I avoided her, but BB couldn’t poor fella.
I didn’t take him out running for Mom when she asked either. My day was full, and I’d be lucky if I could get everything done. BB’s outside time is an opportunity for them to have some fun together. What she does with the opportunity isn’t up to me, but I won’t take away the chance.
I just hope and pray she starts learning how to change and manage her own moods. It’ll be a rough transition, getting there from here. I feel so sorry for her, for her disillusionment with her son. She’s not given to optimism, making it all more agonizing. But if I’ve learned anything from the past 6 years of debilitating illness, it’s that bad moods are a choice. It takes just as much energy to be miserable as it does deciding to look for something to be happy about.
Contrary to the saying, little stuff matters! There’s a lot of joy to be found in the little things; the undiluted delight puppies have when they play, the way a room feels when it’s been cleaned, the taste of a favorite meal, laughter shared with friends, a soft cuddle with a sleepy pup… the little stuff adds up faster than the big uglies.
It wouldn’t be right for me to expect Mom and pups to tiptoe around my crankiness, and change their plans to suit me at the drop of a swinging mood. It isn’t right for her to do to me, as hard as it will be for her to stop. If she doesn’t enjoy being outside with BB, that’s a choice she makes every time she goes out the door. He’s funnier than a rubber crutch, so the problem is in her attitude.
Attitudes are durable beasts, like dandelions in a flowerbed: the longer they stay there, the deeper they grow, tangling up and starving the plants you want to have there. It’s nearly impossible to get the entire root out so the weed doesn’t grow back, too. Weeding is not an easy job, and weeding your own overgrown spirit is even harder.
Finding BB’s Sweet Spot…by Auntie Lisa
BB in the early morning light, 40 weeks old
Beebers had a much better Friday night last night than he has in a solid month! Even with a whiney fussy toddler in his home (LAST TIME!), he was much calmer about it when Mom stayed calm. An episode of the Dog Whisperer finally turned on the lightbulb for Mom about “two negative energies” colliding: when he’s misbehaving, the more she gets irritated and angry, the worse BB gets. I guess she just needed to hear it the way Cesar said it.
So she started finding that “sweet spot” between firm and patient with him. Yay! Thursday night was absolutely horrible with those two fussing with each other. I got so tired of Mom yelling at BB and BB running wild that I went upstairs. Maybe this won’t happen again? Friday night’s relative relaxation in the face of his worst fears (a 2 year old little person) is very encouraging.
BB has changed alot the past 2-3 months. Back in the day, when BB was upset his brother’s presence would calm him. Now that they are almost adolescents, the two unnuetered males don’t relax each other ever. Since I stopped trying to rehabilitate BB’s fear of children, as well as train my own pup, Beebers isn’t a quick to mind me. His overall pushiness and not minding has gotten worse.
Puppies change!
BB at 10 months, right on the verge of the teenage male stuff, really really REALLY needed his Mom to get the idea of CALM discipline. Her tendency is to screeeeeech, get angry, pull away, and other behaviors that dogs see as weakness instead of leadership. So last night, she tried the other end. It worked! (of course)
BB does things like swat for attention, demand food at the table, nip at Mom’s feet when she won’t play with him, grab hands and pant legs when you’re walking away, try to shove his way onto Mom’s spot on the couch, bark when left in his expen… pushy and dominant. He was getting worse, so thank you Cesar!
I’m greatly relieved Mom is learning to discipline BB with calmness. It’s much more effective at preventing escalation, and he needs some heavy duty toning down and putting in his place to stop with wild and toothy. I’m really hoping she sets her mind to stay on this course, becoming less reactive herself. It would be so good for her, and everyone else!
I still believe that once she gets BB under her control, we can finally get the two boys to behave without constant, exhausting, and frustrating interference from us. Or having that darned old barrier up. I’m tired of shuffling the boys around so we keep them seperated. BB tangles up his brother’s legs and nips him all the time, every chance he can touch flesh.
Beebs is absolutely relentless about getting his brother riled up, and once Kenai decides to knock him around, 120 plus pounds of irritated puppy is hard to command without equal intensity. Mostly they just want to play, but BB pushes it farther and it turns into something else in the blink of an eye.
I can correct Kenai and walk him away, but BB’s getting mixed signals if Mom doesn’t make it stick. We had once incident of Kenai getting really angry, and it was not easy to back him off, either. That came dreadfully close to the day of reckoning for a spoiled puppy we call Banana Butt.
The fine day was coming, when teenage or adult Kenai was going to use his extra poundage to more than kick his brother’s bent butt but good. I’ve always worried about that day. Kenai could easily injure BB or even kill him in a serious blood drawing battle.
I don’t allow ANY dominance in Kenai, with humans or his brother. He’s 25 pounds heavier than little brother, with solid muscle and perfect joints. Even still a puppy, Kenai would not be anything resembling a wuss. It certainly would take a tremendous amount of torment to push him far enough to fight like he meant it; he’s the most tolerant, obedient, gentle pup I’ve ever seen in 37 years of owning dogs.
Kenai is stoic, calm, and fearless. He won’t back down to little brother if he’s had enough, and he knows he can take him. He only puts up with so much before he takes matters into his own teeth. The threshold is very high, but his limits are definite. If Mom can’t back BB down into calm submissive role like his brother, eventually Kenai will do it for us.
That’s why Mom’s change of heart makes me feel better today about the prospects of a peaceful home this winter! Also happy is this being the last weekend my brother will live here. He’s been reminded every week for 6 weeks that he is leaving this week. Response: still unemployed, hasn’t left the house a single time to stop at the “now hiring” signs all over town.
Get any job to pay bills and child support, find a place to live, and work a crummy job until you find the job you want isn’t an idea that appeals to him. It will be an ugly week, finding out the foot dragging didn’t work this time. I hope Mom remains calm with my brother’s volatile moods, or both boys will be hard to handle.
So things are looking up when looking beyond the next week! The day we can take the barrier down in the living room and watch TV without a single ‘Hey, knock it off’ will be V-Day. It’s possible, but I can’t do it by myself, so keep up the good work with BB Mom!
Life Without Opposable Thumbs…by Auntie Lisa
BB enduring a ‘critter check’, getting off ticks and hitchhikers from his field romp, 40 weeks
